She built her life to survive his absence.

Elena Vasquez is forty-one, a landscape architect on the coast of Maine, and the last woman who should be ambushed by her own pulse. She designed her life the way she designs gardens: for endurance, for beauty, and for the comfort of things that require something from you and give back accordingly.

She did not design it for Daniel Reyes.

But Daniel has just bought the neglected estate she has been hired to restore, and he knew she was in Maine before he signed a single paper.

Fifteen years. One frost-stiffened morning. A man with the particular patience of someone who has been waiting long enough that waiting has become part of who he is.

Elena is not running this time. She is just not sure yet what staying will cost her.

What Survives the Frost is a slow-burn second chance romance set on the rugged coast of Maine, with mature characters, forced proximity, deep longing, adult heat, and a satisfying happily-ever-after ending.